NCP power play: Chhagan Bhujbal’s OBC bouncer now queers Ajit Pawar’s pitch

From every side one looks at it, Bhujbal’s call has a lot of merit. The NCP has not been able to shrug off the image of being a pro-Maratha party even 24 years after it was formed, with most of its top leadership belonging to the community. The OBCs form a 40% chunk of Maharashtra’s population, bigger than the Marathas at 33%. Every party is wooing the OBC vote, with both the Congress’s state chief (Nana Patole) and the BJP’s (Chandrashekhar Bawankule) being OBC. And Bhujbal himself has earned his stripes as an OBC leader, with his long years spent in politics and his vociferous articulation of the OBC cause.

His impatience for a larger role in the NCP barely hidden now, Ajit played his latest move at the party conclave held in Mumbai earlier this week, in the presence of Sharad Pawar. Days after the NCP supremo had unveiled his succession plan, with Supriya Sule and Praful Patel as working presidents, and no word on Ajit, the latter said: “I was never keen on Leader of the Opposition role (in the Assembly). I accepted it because of a signature campaign by the party’s MLAs… I am willing to give up the post… I will be more happy to work for the organisation.”

While Ajit added, “Give me any role”, few were left in doubt about what the NCP leader wanted. With Sule’s position clarified as the national face, Ajit was signalling that the Maharashtra unit should finally be left to him to run. Incidentally, among the states Sule has been given charge of is Maharashtra.

Days later, Bhujbal, known for his blunt speaking, cautioned the NCP about keeping in mind “social engineering”. “If you have a Maratha as LoP, the state party president should be from the OBC,” he said.

Bhujbal added: “I would also like to work as state president. Else, there are many OBC leaders in the party — Sunil Tatkare, Jitendra Awhad, Dhananjay Munde — who can be considered.”

The tenure of the current NCP Maharashtra president, Jayant Patil, has already crossed five years. And the party would be keen to strike the right caste balance in time for the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

From Sharad Pawar’s perspective, having Ajit as Maharashtra president could also open a constant source of friction between him and Sule, as the state in-charge, over issues such as candidates for polls. Ajit and Sule have long been seen as contenders for Pawar Senior’s legacy, with the matter now seemingly settled in favour of the daughter.

In his statement, Bhujbal suggested that Sharad Pawar was also a big believer in social engineering and that his call for an OBC state president was only in the NCP’s interests. “We already have Marathas holding important posts. An OBC state president would help strike social balance and send a positive message to the community.”

A senior NCP leader backed Bhujbal, saying: “What he said has logic. His politics has centred around OBCs. Why should we suspect his suggestion?”

A versatile leader known for his oratorial skills, who has been with the NCP right from the start, was the party’s first Maharashtra president, and who has bounced back after long imprisonment on corruption charges, Bhujbal’s is a voice that can’t be ignored.

Recently, he said almost the impossible by questioning the rationale behind putting up Saraswati portraits in schools, suggesting that she was a Goddess of the upper castes who deprived communities such as OBCs of education.

He is also the founder and head of a socio-political outfit called the Akhil Bharatiya Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad, which champions the cause of OBCs at the national level.

While Bhujbal started out with the Shiv Sena in the 1960s, impressing the leadership with his skills as both a street fighter and a legislator, he quit the party over its opposition to reservation for OBCs. As Leader of the Opposition, Bhujbal was known to take on Bal Thackeray when the Sena was at its peak.